Nominal vs present value
Local display: $2.1m · Rebased to 2024 USD via US CPI-U
How the total breaks down
Ranking prize money. Major ranking title earnings during his breakthrough British season.
Chinese commercial income. Domestic sponsors and appearances for the next Chinese headliner after Ding.
Impact 84
- Showed China's commercial pipeline outlived Ding's peak years
- Proved a new Chinese champion could still clear multimillion seasons
- Kept World Snooker's China strategy stocked with marketable stars
Zhao's breakthrough earnings told promoters the Chinese audience would adopt new heroes. That continuity matters more than any single cheque: snooker's eastern commercial pillar needs faces after Ding.
Zhao's early-2020s breakthrough layered major ranking cheques under Chinese commercial demand for a roughly $2 million peak season. It confirmed Ding was a market-maker, not a one-off — China keeps minting snooker earners.